Use of liquid products such as, for example, medications, wound lavage liquids, saline, and the like are often required in sterile environments, such as, for example, an operating room, a quarantine area, etc. In many cases these liquid products are disposed within a container or bottle, such as, for example, a glass or plastic container or bottle (used interchangeably herein without the intent to limit).
One problem associated with the use of such containers is that, while the internal contents of the container may be sterile, the exterior surfaces of the container often are non-sterile and, as such, the container cannot be introduced into the sterile environment. Sterilizing the exterior surfaces of such containers can be expensive and, depending on the sterilization technique used, can harm the liquid product contained therein. As a result, introduction of containers into the sterile environment is generally not permitted.
One current solution to this problem is to position the non-sterile container outside of the sterile environment, and to couple a long transfer tube to the container to deliver the liquid product to the application site within the sterile environment. As will be appreciated, the incorporation of a long transfer tube may be inconvenient and can be a safety hazard. In addition, the use of long runs of tubing can increase the amount of time it takes to deliver the liquid product to the patient, and can result in the wasting of quantities of liquid that remain within the tubing.
In view of these and other problems, it would be advantageous to provide an easy to use device, system and method for enabling introduction of a non-sterile container such as, for example a bottle, containing a liquid product into a sterile environment. It is with these considerations that the present disclosure is put forth.